Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
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The King of the Dry Forests
Tigers are extremely powerful large cats. They
are nocturnal solitary hunters that defend large
territories while searching for food. Tigers com-
municate vocally with roars, growls, snarls,
grunts, moans, mews, and hisses. Each sound
can reflect the tiger's intent or mood. Three
subspecies of tiger are found in the seasonal
forests of the region: Bengal, Indonesian, and
Sumatran. Bengal tigers are found in India and
Bangladesh. The Nigarjunasgar Tiger Reserve in
central India is one of the largest and most im-
portant protected reserves for the Bengal tiger.
Indochinese tigers are found in Cambodia,
Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet-
nam. Sumatran tigers, the smallest of all tigers,
are found only on the Indonesian island of
Sumatra. Bali and Javan tigers are thought to be
extinct. Tiger populations are severely impacted
by deforestation and loss of habitat as well as
illegal poaching and trade. Many tigers are killed
for their fur as well as for tiger products used for
traditional medicinal preparations.
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Lanka, and feeds largely on termites and bees.
Bear populations are in steep decline due to loss
of habitat and hunting. The Himalayan or Asi-
atic black bear are seasonal visitors to the dry for-
ests of Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam when
fruit is plentiful. During the winter, they descend
from the mountains to the tropical forests where
food is plentiful.
Eastern Malesia mammal fauna are a mix of
Australian and Asian species. As most of the dry
forests in this subregion occur on islands, fewer
mammals are present. Several endemic species
inhabit the dry forests of these islands, they
include several endemic rats; endemic bats,
including flying foxes, long-eared bats, and horse-
shoe bats; and several endemic shrews on
Komodo and Timor. Marsupials in the seasonal
forests of East Malesia fill similar niches as pla-
cental mammals in the western subregion of the
Asian Pacific. They live in the trees and on the
ground, and are herbivores, omnivores, and carni-
vores. The isolation of this subregion from the rest
of the region allowed ancient marsupials to
evolve. Their isolation and lack of large predators
are probably responsible for their presence today.
Birds
Birds are abundant in the seasonal forests of the Asian-Pacific region. Many fami-
lies in this region are shared with Africa, most likely due to dispersal during inter-
mittent forested connections. Some of the important families shared between the
two regions include hornbills, bulbuls, and sunbirds. Hornbills are large birds with
black, white, and yellow feathers and huge bills. They are common in the open sea-
sonal forests. Hornbills eat almost anything, although a few are strictly carnivo-
rous, while others are frugivores.
Many ground-dwelling birds including pheasants, partridges, tragopans, fire-
backs, great and crested argus, and peacock pheasants forage the forest floor and
shrub layer for food. Doves and pigeons are abundant on the forest floor and the
lower canopy levels. In the trees, myna birds are common, along with brightly col-
ored sunbirds, flowerpeckers, spiderhunters, and honeyeaters. Like the sunbirds of
Africa, Asian sunbirds are small birds with long curved bills. They are mainly nec-
tar feeders and can be bright yellow, red, purple, and olive green. Many of these
